Mindset, text, line length, text, text, accessible yellow, text

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For all of the chefs on this list who subscribed 8 years ago when I wrote a hyper-viral thing about a sandwich that I ate once, behold: text.

These letters once shifted from a blend of personal & professional to mostly professional. I retreated for a minute. Most of the personal work became quiet, focused on space holding & community management. This was necessary. Nothing is “normal” anymore, inasmuch as normal was a concept worth contemplating at all in the first place. But there is now much to discuss, and this is not the right container.

I began this in February, when I was in Costa Rica and found myself with the psychic spaciousness to create something new. It has been going quietly for a few months. I linked it on my personal site and told some friends. I got feedback from close people, changed some of the things, now it’s better and ready for prime time.

I have written more text about text on text’s beautiful & inspiring website, which is linked up there. This particular text is especially good because there are no barriers. I have found that we hold ourselves back for many arbitrary reasons. I’m trying not to do that. This is a practice. You will come to understand this.

So for those of you who are not yet in possession of enough text, behold: more text. Regardless of whether you require additional text, I now invite you to inform everyone you’ve ever met that more text exists in the world. We have needed it.

This week, for paid members

Our paid lesson this week is a doozy. What are the four main mindset issues that people tend to face in ecommerce, and how can we work to overcome them as value-based designers?
This is what our monthly presentation is about, too. What are the primary psychic issues among store owners, and what as practitioners must we do to hold space for them?
Our design of the week covers an interesting collection page layout on a major backpack brand. How does it differ from typical collection pages, and where can you get value from using it in your own store?
And our office hours for May are today, at 1pm CDT. We’ll be talking about all sorts of lovely value-based design topics, as well as the important issues that this week’s paid lesson address.

Want in? Join us now – now named one of the best ecommerce communities going on the web.

Links & analysis

Why you don’t need an interface framework. Remember that your platform dictates the norms of your interface, not the arbitrary strictures of a framework. Frameworks feel to me a little like middlemen in this way.
A new way of thinking about novel interface ideas: since they are effectively unpatentable, anyone can rip them off. (Related: check out that note-taking platform! It’s nice seeing people work in public. My notes are extremely extensive, but since I only ship finished work nobody will ever get to see it 🫠)
The dark yellow problem. This is framed around design systems, but it works everywhere. How do you convey an accurate yellow in a way that’s broadly accessible?
I’ve been saying for 20 years that the optimal line length is 66 characters, regardless of what you’re reading. Now there’s a usability study that proves it. No excuses, fam!

This week’s paid lesson: What are the four key mindset issues in ecommerce?

This week’s lesson is for paid members. Sign into our community to read it, or join us today to get access.

Thanks for the sponsorship, The Current!